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Recruiting recap: The rise of 2018 ATH Amad Anderson

The following content originally appeared as premium articles on Scout.com, republished with permission.

As Amad Anderson gets set to make his college decision Sunday, Aug. 6, these recruiting stories by Garrett Stepien provide a recap of the Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis athlete’s rise as a top 2018 prospect. Photo credit: Garrett Stepien / ScarletReport.com.

Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis 2018 Amad Anderson will camp at least once for Rutgers during June after he received a verbal scholarship offer last week from the coaching staff.

Amad Anderson might not be the most well-known recruit out there yet. But that’s fine by him.

While his playing field at Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis High School sits just a couple blocks away from the waterfront overlooking downtown Manhattan’s world-renowned skyline, it’s firmly tucked away in New York City’s southernmost borough.

But that didn’t stop Rutgers from reaching out to Anderson, who attended the Scarlet Knights’ spring practice in April. Soon enough, on May 12, he received the scholarship offer.

“It actually meant a lot to me and my family because as of football, who would expect an offer from Rutgers, a Big Ten school?” said Anderson, who received the offer from defensive backs coach Bill Busch. “So, that actually shows that my hard work and passion came of notice.

“When I go there, they give back to me and teach me knowledge and tell me about the school. So, from what I’ve heard and from what I’ve seen … I think it’s a good fit for me.”

A two-way athlete at 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, Anderson presents a sizable physical frame that still has time to fill out. Playing free safety on defense and wide receiver on offense, he detailed his approach on both sides of the ball.

“On offense, I can make plays happen and I can get coaches what they need when they need it,” he said. “And on defense … I’m an athlete. I can make plays happen, put the team in spots to win.”

With two remaining seasons spelling room for improvement, it’s only logical to expect that his offer list will increase. Anderson says he has been hearing from Boston College, Florida State, Notre Dame and North Carolina the most so far, generating ACC interest on top of his lone two offers from Rutgers and Syracuse.

As far as the next steps in his recruitment with the Scarlet Knights go, Anderson said he plans on attending “two or three” of Rutgers’ upcoming summer football camps.

That includes coach Chris Ash’s Tri-State Showcase on June 8 at Fairleigh Dickinson in Madison, leaving the door open for the remaining camps hosted by Rutgers in Piscataway the rest of the month.

But one of the most interesting aspects of his Rutgers recruitment lies within his ties to recent class of 2017 commit Tim Barrow. Anderson said he and Barrows share the same trainer, setting the level of familiarity between the local prospects from Staten Island.

“It shows that we have talent, but sometimes, it may go unnoticed,” Anderson said. “But as Timmy (Barrow) and I may feel, it feels good to get … recruited to a school, a Big Ten school and I know it feels good to me to get offered from Rutgers. So that honestly shows that Staten Island — we have talent, but we just have to put the work in to get noticed. It’s just not gonna happen. So, I’m very happy that Rutgers is actually looking elsewhere, New York City-wise.”

As the dominoes fall for the Rutgers football recruiting class of 2017, coach Chris Ash and his staff look to remain one step ahead of the game by continuing that momentum with the class of 2018.

Among the rising prospects in the younger pool is Amad Anderson, a versatile athlete from Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis. After he returned to Rutgers for the Scarlet Knights’ 7-on-7 passing camp, Anderson recapped his latest visit.

“It was actually a great experience for me and a couple of the kids on my team with the competition and everything,” he said. “It was actually pretty fun at the end of the day, even though we didn’t make it that far in the playoffs.”

Anderson said Ash and the recruiting staff remain in contact, and made a face-to-face encounter at the passing camp an opportunity for the 6-foot-1, 170-pounder to showcase his athletic abilities in person on both sides of the ball.

“It was actually pretty good,” said Anderson, who plays wide receiver and defensive back. “Coach Ash hasn’t, like, focused on me in action (aside from watching the highlight tapes). So, it was good that he saw me make plays and put my team in a position to win coming to camp.”

Anderson is an early target among rising juniors. He remains a priority, saying the staff communicates with him often about his grades and how he feels about Rutgers as a school.

But beyond Rutgers, Anderson as interest from other programs. He holds verbal offers from the Scarlet Knights and Syracuse. More could be coming from the ACC and the Big 12 in the near future, he said.

“I have three more camps,” Anderson said. “I have the Deion Sanders camp up in Texas, (then) I’m going to West Virginia and North Carolina (for visits).”

He also attended a Penn State satellite camp recently at Hightstown (N.J.) The Peddie School. Anderson worked out at the camp at defensive back and has medium interest from the Nittany Lions.

But as his recruiting process plays out ahead of his junior year, Anderson admitted he is more than aware of the recruiting momentum unfolding at Rutgers.

“It’s actually pretty good because it’s seeing that all of the talent that we have in the (local area) is coming to notice and it’s not being unnoticed by Rutgers coaches,” he said. “And I actually appreciate the look that they have on New York City kids.”

NEW YORK — Amad Anderson led Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis to a 44-16 win over Staten Island (N.Y.) Tottenville in the season opener for both schools. The 2018 Rutgers athlete target spoke with Scarlet Report after the game and provided an update on his recruitment.

Rutgers made Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis 2018 receiver Amad Anderson feel like a priority with its actions last week on the high-school gridiron.

Less than 24 hours before the home-opener against Howard, the Scarlet Knights attended Anderson’s Friday night game. Rutgers was in early with a verbal scholarship offer, and visited him as early as possible in September.

Anderson and Barrow share the same trainer, so their competition extends beyond the gridiron. On Friday, they faced off on it as Barrow covered Anderson wide at cornerback.

Anderson got the best of Barrow with a pair of touchdowns on a 54-yard screen and a 67-yard streak.

“It’s always great competing with Tim,” Anderson said. “He’s a great athlete. I’m a great athlete. So it’s like challenging me, I always challenge him. So it’s great to go up and compete with him.”

For now, Anderson said he wants to let his recruitment play out. But he does have a decision timeline in mind.

“I’m going to wear (the recruitment process) out,” he said. “I’m going to commit to whatever school I’m comfortable with before playoffs.”

On the field, Anderson led Curtis to a 44-16 victory over Tottenville.

“It shows that me and my guys worked hard all offseason and we wanted to get the trophy back to where it belongs,” Anderson said. “So we had to work for it. Nothing was given to us. We had to work very hard.”

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Amid new interest and offers from the spring evaluation period, what is the latest with long-time Rutgers target Amad Anderson? The No. 9 wide receiver in the East updates his recruitment.

While the new interest and offers flow in, Amad Anderson remains heavily involved with one school that was there from the start.

Since it offered last May, Rutgers has been a top suitor for the No. 9 wide receiver in the East out of Staten Island (N.Y.) Curtis.

Anderson made his most recent visit to campus during the final week of spring camp, and he came away with his best Rutgers experience yet.

“It was probably the best visit I ever had at Rutgers because I actually interacted with the team, I actually spoke to and give information about myself to the coaches,” Anderson said. “We interacted more than ever before … when I would go there for a game or something like that, they wouldn’t really be able to talk to me because they would be in game mode.”

Photo credit: Sam Hellman / ScarletReport.com.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Anderson had in-depth interactions with Jerry Kill about the direction of the offensive scheme.

The newly hired offensive coordinator made it clear to Anderson that he is a priority recruit.

“During the spring practice, he was on the field,” Anderson said. “But after a while, I spoke to him and he was (saying) I’m the fit for the offense. Pretty much just going over how the plan for me is.”

When it comes to schools Anderson hears from the most, Rutgers is the first among many that come to mind.

“Schools that are talking to me the most — Rutgers, they try to get in contact with me every day,” Anderson said. “Maryland, they text me every day. The Wisconsin coach, he texts me here and there. The Wake Forest coach. Pretty much, all the schools, they try not to bug me, but they still have to recruit me, so it’s part of the process. Every school that offers me, they get in contact with me as a much as possible.”

Between basketball during the winter and track in the spring, Anderson stayed active.

The time commitments to the sports limited his ability to take visits in the spring, but schools took notice.

“Certain schools will come in, they watch me run for track practice,” said Anderson, who ran an 11.5-second split in the 4×100 relay at the Penn Relays. “They’ll call me and ask me how I’ve been doing at meets and stuff. I just came back from Penn (Relays) and I spoke to a couple of coaches. They were proud of what I ran.”

Anderson added offers from Wisconsin, Wake Forest and Maryland in the past week. More could be on the way, which is why he said he wants to take his time with his recruitment.

“Besides the offers that I have, the other schools that I’m hearing from are Pittsburgh, UConn, Temple, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Cincinnati, North Carolina and Virginia Tech,” Anderson said.